Haiti: Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink

Haiti: Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink

No news might be good news. But that’s if you’re not in Haiti. Here, good news is good news and there’s no denying that attempts to start a water kiosk venture is possibly the very best news ever.

It beats all the news that constantly comes in about new hotels and plans for five international airports. It beats the somewhat overblown reports about free schooling and everything else.

There’s a very good reason that news about dloHaiti is heartwarming, cheering and simply remarkable. The company, which apparently boasts Haitian and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, is planning to provide “safe, affordable drinking water to underserved neighborhoods”. That’s in a country that was ranked last on the 147-country Water Poverty Index of 2002.

So here’s what the press release from Leopard Capital investment agency says about dloHaiti, which it will be supporting:

“dloHaiti will establish a network of wells serving water kiosks that will dispense and deliver water to households in five-gallon jugs. The kiosks will be powered by solar cells and will contain high technology filtration systems. dloHaiti’s water will exceed WHO health standards and be priced at a 25% – 40% discount to other water sources. The Company’s for-profit model will initially create over 600 jobs and save Haitian consumers more than US $400,000 annually in water expenditures.”

What very good news. One can only hope that all of this comes to pass.

By some accounts, Haitian women and children in the hinterland walk roughly five hours a day, every day, to collect water. If dloHaiti’s venture is a success, millions of Haitians might finally have access to a commodity that much of the world regards as a basic right.

Leopard’s chief investment officer Rilwan Meeran says dloHaiti will bring “world-class entrepreneurs, technology and know-how to address some hard, persistent problems in providing basic services in Haiti. We like the market-driven model and would like to see this type of investment expanded in Haiti…”

So say all of us. Fingers crossed.

“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life”
– Jack Kerouac